Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Invests $699,000 in U.S. Physical Therapy, Inc. (NYSE:USPH)

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System purchased a new position in shares of U.S. Physical Therapy, Inc. (NYSE:USPH) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 7,500 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $699,000. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System owned 0.05% of U.S. Physical Therapy as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of U.S. Physical Therapy by 1.7% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,036,203 shares of the company’s stock worth $95,051,000 after buying an additional 17,156 shares during the period. Copeland Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of U.S. Physical Therapy by 6.8% during the third quarter. Copeland Capital Management LLC now owns 770,613 shares of the company’s stock worth $70,688,000 after buying an additional 49,155 shares during the period. Boston Trust Walden Corp boosted its position in shares of U.S. Physical Therapy by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. Boston Trust Walden Corp now owns 546,958 shares of the company’s stock worth $50,944,000 after buying an additional 3,616 shares during the period. Schroder Investment Management Group boosted its position in shares of U.S. Physical Therapy by 12.1% during the third quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group now owns 384,936 shares of the company’s stock worth $35,310,000 after buying an additional 41,414 shares during the period. Finally, Northern Trust Corp boosted its position in shares of U.S. Physical Therapy by 9.5% during the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 227,704 shares of the company’s stock worth $20,887,000 after buying an additional 19,661 shares during the period.

U.S. Physical Therapy Stock Up 0.2 %

U.S. Physical Therapy stock opened at $100.61 on Friday. U.S. Physical Therapy, Inc. has a 1-year low of $78.08 and a 1-year high of $124.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a current ratio of 2.28 and a quick ratio of 2.28. The stock has a market cap of $1.52 billion, a PE ratio of 74.53, a P/E/G ratio of 4.76 and a beta of 1.39. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $105.02 and its two-hundred day moving average is $95.43.

U.S. Physical Therapy (NYSE:USPH) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 28th. The company reported $0.59 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.57 by $0.02. U.S. Physical Therapy had a return on equity of 8.52% and a net margin of 4.67%. The company had revenue of $154.80 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $150.24 million. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.58 earnings per share. U.S. Physical Therapy’s quarterly revenue was up 9.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts expect that U.S. Physical Therapy, Inc. will post 2.77 EPS for the current fiscal year.

U.S. Physical Therapy Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 5th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 12th were paid a $0.44 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 11th. This is a boost from U.S. Physical Therapy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.43. This represents a $1.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.75%. U.S. Physical Therapy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 130.37%.

Insider Buying and Selling at U.S. Physical Therapy

In other U.S. Physical Therapy news, EVP Richard Binstein sold 2,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $106.55, for a total value of $213,100.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 15,006 shares in the company, valued at $1,598,889.30. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, insider Eric Joseph Williams sold 1,500 shares of U.S. Physical Therapy stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $104.96, for a total transaction of $157,440.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 19,314 shares in the company, valued at $2,027,197.44. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Richard Binstein sold 2,000 shares of U.S. Physical Therapy stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $106.55, for a total value of $213,100.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 15,006 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,598,889.30. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 10,829 shares of company stock worth $1,141,535 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 1.80% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on USPH. StockNews.com upgraded U.S. Physical Therapy from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, March 18th. Barrington Research increased their price objective on U.S. Physical Therapy from $120.00 to $122.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, March 1st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on U.S. Physical Therapy from $99.00 to $117.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 13th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $125.67.

About U.S. Physical Therapy

U.S. Physical Therapy, Inc operates outpatient physical therapy clinics. The company operates through Physical Therapy Operations and Industrial Injury Prevention Services segments. The company provides pre-and post-operative care and treatment for orthopedic-related disorders, sports-related injuries, preventative care, rehabilitation of injured workers, and neurological-related injuries.